The Unexpected
by just-another-writer20
Summary: It had never even crossed Luna's mind that Neville fancied her. It came as a great surprise. But a nice surprise.
1. A Trip to Hogsmeade

Neville had been wandering around the grounds for quite some time before he finally spotted her, standing alone by the Greenhouse 3, waiting to go into her Herbology lesson. He was about to walk up to her but he suddenly found that his legs didn't work properly. He was practically shaking with nerves.

 _What if she rejects me? What if I lose a wonderful friend because it makes things awkward between us?_

 _Just go up to her and ask her._ You _won't see her again until after Christmas and you'll regret it if you don't ask her now. If you never ask, you'll never know anyway._

Neville pushed the negative thoughts out of his mind and walked up to her determinedly.

"Hey, Luna?"

The blonde girl turned around, her cherry earrings swinging from side to side.

"Oh, hello Neville," she said cheerily.

Neville hesitated, her radiant beauty leaving him dumbstruck for a moment. She had such rosy cheeks. Grey eyes that sparkled in a way that he didn't think eyes could. Her voice did something to him, something no other voice did; her beautiful Irish accent, the way she sounded so happy and full of life despite the drizzly rain that was pouring down on them as they spoke. Lune really was gorgeous...

"Uh-oh. Let me guess: wrackspurt?" she asked, snapping him out of his day dream.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah," mumbled Neville, looking away, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"That's ok. Take your time. Wrackspurts can be tricky to get rid of," Luna said knowingly.

Neville laughed nervously as he tried to remember what it was he was going to say. He'd planned it all out, what he was going to say, how he was going to ask her; but the words seemed to have been jumbled in his brain, like someone had shaken his head vigorously, and now he was worried he would be unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Um... I was just wondering... if you wanted to... well, you don't have to obviously, it's totally up to you..." Neville stumbled over the words, speaking so fast he wondered if Luna could even understand him. She didn't laugh - she merely watched him, smiling encouragingly. "Well, there's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend and I was wondering if you'd like to, er, come with me? Just, you know, go into the shops, get a drink, whatever."

 _No turning back now._

"Oh, yes please! I don't usually have any friends to go with!" cried Luna happily.

 _She thinks I mean as friends. She thinks I mean as friends! What do I do?_

"Ok. So I'll meet you in the entrance hall. Um, is 11:00 good for you?" he asked, trying not to let his disappointment show.

"Yes, that's fine," she replied.

"Fifth years, in you come please!" called Professor Sprout to the class waiting outside.

"I have to go. See you on Saturday!" Luna said, heading into the greenhouse.

"Enjoy your lesson," Neville called to her. For a few moments, he just stood in the rain, feeling as if his heart was slowly breaking apart.

"Longbottom! I believe you have a lesson now?" barked Professor Snape from the entrance hall.

"Yes, sorry Professor," mumbled Neville, heading towards the astronomy tower, angrily brushing away the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes.


	2. A Date?

"What was Neville talking to you about?" Ginny whispered to Luna, pretending to be reading her Herbology book.

"Hm?"

"Just now. He looked really nervous about something."

"Oh, he was just asking if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. I said yes," Luna responded casually.

"He finally asked you out?" Ginny shrieked excitedly. The whole class went silent and Professor Sprout glared at her. "Sorry," she muttered, but an enormous grin spread across her face. Neville had confessed to liking Luna a few weeks ago, and she'd advised him to just ask her out.

"No, he didn't ask me out. He just wants to go to Hogsmeade," said Luna, still not looking up from her book.

"Luna, come on. You're in Ravenclaw, you're much smarter than me; how can you not see it?"

"See what?"

Ginny sighed - it seemed as if she was going to have to spell it out for her.

"Neville likes you!" she cried exasperatedly.

Luna looked up, staring at Ginny, frowning slightly.

"When you say 'he likes me'... do you mean, he fancies me?" she asked.

"YES! He wants this Hogsmeade thing to be a date, he's just too shy to say it," said Ginny.

"Oh… ok." Luna responded after a few moments. She felt extremely confused. It had never once crossed her mind that Neville liked her in that way; this news came as quite a surprise. But not a bad one...

Her heart seemed to be fluttering - she felt nervous and extremely happy at the same time.

 _A date with Neville Longbottom..._


	3. Getting Ready

"You all right, Neville? You don't look so good…" Ron frowned as he filled his goblet with pumpkin juice.

Neville snapped out of his day dream, looking up at Ron. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said, trying his best to smile convincingly. Luckily, Ron didn't push the matter, leaving Neville to carry on staring absently at his plate of toast without touching it.

He wasn't fine - he was feeling extremely anxious. Today was the Hogsmeade trip, and he was meeting Luna in under two hours.

 _What if I mess it all up somehow? She probably doesn't want it to be a date... Oh, God, I'll end up saying the wrong thing and scaring her away..._

The thoughts repeated over and over in Neville's mind, slowly driving him crazy. He did his best to distract himself by talking to Harry about Quidditch and homework, but he was still unable to eat anything - he felt almost sick with nerves.

After a while, Neville said goodbye to Harry and Ron and headed up to the shower rooms. If it was possible, being there made him feel even worse than before; the silence made the negative thoughts in his mind amplify, and it was as if they were screaming at him as the hot water ran down his back:

 _You're gonna mess this up. She'll hate you. She'll never talk to you again. Everyone will laugh at you._

Once he had finished, Neville went back to his dormitory, searching his way through his messy chest of drawers for something nice to wear. Jeans and a plain t-shirt? Or a nicer jumper? Which jumper? It took a lot of deliberation and a lot of putting things back only to pull them out again to try them once more, but eventually, he settled on plain beige trousers and his favourite checked shirt with a warm sweater.

He still had 45 minutes before he was supposed to be meeting Luna, so he went to the library with his Astronomy homework. But it was no good; he kept mixing up the planets and the names of stars seemed jumbled in his brain. Neville soon gave up because he simply couldn't concentrate properly. He dropped his work off in the common room and headed back down to the entrance hall.

* * *

Luna sat alone in her dormitory, staring at the contents of her wardrobe thoughtfully. The convention of a date was to wear something pretty and look nice. But what would be considered pretty?

Flicking through her clothes, she eventually decided on a long red skirt and a blue top that had a flowery pattern around the neckline, along with her light grey pixie boots and dark green parker-style coat. Once she had changed, she reached over to her bedside table for her usual cherry earrings and cork necklace. But she hesitated; she knew that people mocked her for wearing them. It didn't bother Luna one bit, but she couldn't bare it if Neville got laughed at because he was with her. So she left the Ravenclaw common room without them.


	4. Maybe This Won't Be So Bad

Luna stood alone in the entrance hall, watching some first year students playing with a Fanged Frisbee as she waited for Neville. He wasn't late - she'd just turned up half an hour early because she had nothing to do that morning.

She saw him approaching, and suddenly felt nervous, although she couldn't quite figure out why. Turning around in the hope that he wouldn't spot her, Luna ran her fingers through her messy blonde hair in an attempt to tame it. Her heart rate seemed to increase; confusing thoughts ran through her mind, making her feel panicked:

 _Why am I so worried about this? Neville is my friend, I know he won't judge me if my hair is a little bit of a mess. But this is a 'date' isn't it?_

"Hi!" Neville called, walking over to her. Luna turned back to face him, giving him her best smile, though it didn't quite reach her protuberant grey eyes. He was wearing nice trousers and a nice sweater. _Do I look ok?_ Luna thought worriedly.

"How are you?" he added.

Luna hesitated; she considered lying to him, telling him she felt fine, but she didn't feel fine in any way and she wanted to be honest with him.

"I'm ok, thank you... though, I am a little nervous," she replied, her smile faltering as she looked up at him.

"Why?" asked Neville, a look of concern on his face. _He's so sweet to care..._

"Well, Ginny explained to me that you wanted to ask me out on a date to Hogsmeade, and not just go as friends. I didn't realise at first. And now I'm just feeling a little... um... anxious, that's all."

Neville sighed, feeling incredibly guilty, making a mental note to never trust Ginny again. This was the last thing he wanted to happen. He only wanted Luna to be happy.

"Oh, Luna. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to make you worried," Neville said. He put a tender hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, and took it as a good sign that she didn't move away from him.

"Do you mean... this wasn't supposed to be a date?" Luna questioned. She did her best not to show it, but she now felt disappointed and sad.

"Um... I..." stuttered Neville, taking his hand from her shoulder in the hope that she wouldn't notice that he was shaking. "Well... I did mean for it to be... a date. But it doesn't have to be... if you don't want it to be. It's up to you. I don't want to make you nervous, Luna, I would never do that. I care about you too much."

Luna couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. _He does want it to be a date. He cares about me. And I care about him._

"No, a date is fine. If you still want it to be?" she smiled properly this time, her eyes glistening with happiness.

"I'd love it to be," said Neville. "Shall we go to Hogsmeade then?"

"I'd like that."

As they headed out of the entrance hall, Luna slotted her hand into Neville's. He didn't hesitate - he intertwined his fingers with hers. It felt nice. They didn't know it, but they were both thinking the exact same thing:

 _Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought it would be..._


End file.
